Page 34 of Lucky Strike

“It’s all on me, Mae.” I grabbed her arm, but she wrenched it away. People thought my sister was sweet as pie, but she was a Kelly and her temper rivaled Mom’s when she got going. “I don’t want you to be mad at Bria.”

“Oh, trust me—I’m not. This is all you. I know how you are,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “How convincing you can be.”

I stalked over to the couch and sat down, running my hands through my hair. It was Spring Break, and my parents had allowed Maeve, Tristan, and me to spend the week at the cottage. As long as we kept things civil, we were allowed to bring friends. Bria came as Maeve’s guest because she always did. They were two peas in a pod.

Everything had been going smoothly until this morning, when Maeve spied me stealing a kiss from Bria in the kitchen. “You make it sound like I’m some kind of plotting, conniving, lecherous, old?—”

She tossed up her hands. “Aren’t you, though?”

“Not the old part. We’re not even two years apart.” I was beingpurposely obtuse, but it was true. Bria had turned sixteen in February, and I wouldn’t be eighteen for another couple of weeks.

“For reasons I’ll never know,” said Maeve, sitting beside me. “You have plenty of girls riding your dick. Why on earth would you mess with Bria of all people?Why, Lucky?”

“She’s …” I closed my eyes.

“She’s too good for you.”

I couldn’t disagree. Briawastoo good for me. She was decent and moral—she even took chapel more seriously than I ever had. She was probably smarter than me, too, despite being two grades younger. And she was so damn pretty. I’d lost count of how many times I’d sneaked out to the woods between our schools to see her. That was on hold, though. Thanks to Sterling beefing up the security after a spate of senior pranks, I almost got caught last time.

“You promised me you’d leave my friends alone!” Maeve added, still seething.

“That was before Bria was one of your friends.”

She slapped my arm, hard.

“Ouch, Maeve. Shit.” I pulled away before her violence escalated. “What do you want me to say? I like Bria! A lot! I didn’t know how close you two were when I met her at your Sweet Sixteen!”

She pointed at me. “But you knew once I brought her home for Thanksgiving.”

“Yeah.” I rubbed my arm. I did know, then. I just didn’t care. I’d thought about the mysterious Edenbrook girl from the party so many times that when she randomly appeared in front of me in our kitchen, I didn’t even try to resist. Outwardly, I played it cool, but inwardly I was on her like a heat-seeking missile. I could barely wait to get Bria alone, to kiss her again, to convince her my intentions were genuine. Because they were. That was four months ago, and it’s been pretty fucking perfect ever since. “I really like her, though, okay? She’s different.”

“She’s what—not like all the other girls?” Maeve’s tone was so saccharine-sweet I nearly gagged. “Give me a break.”

“Why are you being so bitchy about this?”

Her face fell, and she sagged into the cushions. “Because I don’t want her to get hurt. Forget other girls—she’s not likeyou. She’s kind of pure,you know?” But Bria wasn’t as pure as Maeve thought. It had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with her outlook on life. She was gritty, real, and raw in her own way. She saw things for how they were, not the way she wanted them to be. I liked that. She didn’t lie to herself like most people. Maeve poked my thigh. “She’s not experienced.”

She had me there. “I know that,” I said, flicking her finger away. “We’re going at her pace. I’m not … I’m not trying to ruin her, okay? We hang out. We have fun. I’m good to her, Mae.”

She bit her nail. “Then why did she keep you a secret from me?”

“Because she didn’t want to hurt you.” I paused, rolling my next words around my mouth before releasing them. “I think she was afraid you’d get mad and drop her.”

“I’d never drop her,” Maeve said, shaking her head. “Why would she even think that?”

“I don’t know, but you should talk to her about it,” I said. “She cares about you more than you realize.”

“I care about her, too. But it hurts that she hid this. It makes me feel like we’re not as close as I thought we were.”

“Really? You’re gonna go there?”

Maeve lifted her chin, staring defiantly back at me.

“We all have things we’re hiding,” I reminded her, knowing she understood what I wasn’t saying. “So maybe get off your high horse.”

Her lip trembled. “That’s different. Those aren’t my secrets to tell.”

“They are your secrets,” I countered softly. “Yours and mine. We’ve inherited them, like it or not.”

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